Forgiveness is often misunderstood and misused as an explanation of God's reaction toward mankind's failures and misbehavior. He is aware of our flawed nature, which reaches all the way back to Adam and Eve's behavior in the garden of Eden. As two newly created creatures, they were without flaws or sins. When God placed them in the garden, they were provided with every need that they might ever confront.

In the midst of this bounty, God clearly stated one prohibition that they were not to violate. Their reaction is well documented in the Scriptures. They ate of the forbidden fruit, and thereby became sinners. They were driven from the garden, and cherubim with swords prevented their reentry. From that day forward, all men have been born with a sinful nature that God will not allow to enter heaven. When every person reaches an age of accountability, he or she must be cleansed of sins and restored to God's favor or else remain alienated from God in this world and the world to come.

God, knowing even before the creation that man would sin, made provision for his redemption. Because that redemption would embrace all the sins of mankind, He made redemption an individual blessing that could be attained by each accountable person when God's provisions had been fully met. Because man could not rise above his alienation from God's favor by any scheme or plan of his own, God paid the gift of man's redemption, the sacrifice of His only begotten Son. However, man must meet God's plan and provisions first to enter into God's favor and then to remain there by entering into a fellowship with Christ and by complying with His plan for godly living and renewal.

When man has entered that fellowship with Christ by faith, repentance, confession and baptism for the remission of sins to receive the gift of God's Holy Spirit, then he must walk uprightly, fully aware that from time to time he will violate Christ's will for his life. Therefore, he must commit himself constantly to seek Christ's favor by seeking Christ's or God's forgiveness. Forgiveness can be obtained and maintained only by God's grace and Christ's intervention on our behalf.

Conditional Forgiveness

God's forgiveness has been frequently misunderstood. God's love is unconditional, but His forgiveness is not. It is conditioned upon penitence. The sinner must feel a deep sense of sorrow and pain and then ask God to forgive the specific sin. It may be a sin of omission or a sin of commission. That penitence must arise from a sense of shame, sorrow and grief that God and Christ have been offended.

The sinner's feeling that he has offended God and Christ is accepted by God as a willingness to forego punishment. Even then the sinner must do everything within his power to reduce or remove the consequences of the sin. That may require an approach to someone ill-affected by the sin and seeking pardon. In every case, the sinner should pledge himself that the pardoned sin will not be repeated; if repeated, even more grief and sorrow should be felt in asking God's pardon for a repeat offense.

Saints or Sinners?

Another cause of sin is the person's downgrading of himself in his relationship with God in the first place. We often hear from public speakers and individual Christians that "we are all sinners." It is true that we all do sin from time to time, but our identification must not be that we are a body of sinners. We are saints who, all too often, sin. But as God's children the Scriptures call us to be saints. For example, in Ephesians 2:19 Paul writes, "So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." The word "saints" is used 60 times in the New Testament. Surely, that is reason enough to feel that we are saints.

Relationship With God

God's forgiveness through the ages has been governed by each individual's relationship to God at that time. Although Noah preached while the ark was being prepared, God had no comprehensive written law for the period from Adam to God's covenant with Abraham. During that period, God dealt with each individual by means of a personal encounter with the angel of the Lord, which at times was God Himself. For example, God, as the angel of the Lord, appeared to Abraham with two other angels as they went to see what would befall Sodom for its wickedness (Genesis 18). After God's covenant with Abraham, 430 years passed before the law of Moses was given (Galatians 3:17). During those long years when there was no written law, God dealt with the people in terms of their opportunity to know His will. Because of the absence of a national law, God dealt even with His chosen people on the basis of their opportunity to know His full will. Even when the law of Moses was in effect, it was designed to reveal God's goodness and mankind's sinfulness. "It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise hath been made" (Galatians 3:19 asv). After the seed came - which was Jesus - forgiveness must be sought from God, in the light of His word, through and by the blood of Jesus.

Routine Goodness

Another cause of our slackness in identifying sins, in feeling the gravity of them, and in humbly asking God to forgive them is that we have grown lackadaisical in our daily lives and in our worship. We have done good things for so long that they have become routine.

When godliness has become routine, we are in danger of losing our fervor and zeal for the Lord, His Word, and our worship. For example, in observing the Lord's Supper, we are prone to participate in it in the brief time allotted in a routine manner and spirit. In the first century, the brethren came together to break bread. While there, Paul preached to them. But note, the Supper was the primary purpose for coming together on the Lord's Day. It should be the central purpose for our assemblies today.

I went to Aylesbury, England, for a gospel meeting. Early in the worship period, the local minister arose to preside over the Supper. No one else arose until motioned to do so later. The minister spoke eloquently about the Lord's Supper for 30 minutes. It was a most moving experience. Then the emblems were served. Before the minister came down from the pulpit, he spoke to the visiting minister and said, "Brother, do not let time be a factor in the delivery of your message for us. Take all the time you wish. We worship here by the calendar, not by the clock." Although that was 1963 - 39 years ago - I remember that day as if it were yesterday.

That is only one way in which we can remove the likelihood of routine worship. It is such devotion to the various aspects of worship that is likely to remind us in our daily living that we are in close fellowship with Christ. Then we will be more likely to be aware of our failings, our sins and our need to pray fervently for forgiveness of specific sins and not simply say in closing our prayers, "and forgive us our sins in Jesus' name, Amen!"

Harold S. Baker may be reached at 5813 Hearthstone Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027-4311.